Multiscale Observation of Magnetotail Reconnection Onset: 1. Macroscopic Dynamics

Genestreti, K.J.; Farrugia, C.J.; Lu, S.; Vines, S.K.; Reiff, P.H.; Phan, T.; Baker, D.N.; Leonard, T.W.

doi:10.1029/2023JA031758

i

Multiscale Observation of Magnetotail Reconnection Onset: 1. Macroscopic Dynamics

2023
By Genestreti, K.J. ; Farrugia, C.J. ; Lu, S. ; ...

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Journal Title:

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Personal Author:

Genestreti, K.J. ; Farrugia, C.J. ; Lu, S. ; Vines, S.K. ; Reiff, P.H. ; Phan, T. ; Baker, D.N. ; Leonard, T.W.
NOAA Program & Office:

NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

We analyze a magnetotail reconnection onset event on 3 July 2017 that was observed under otherwise quiescent magnetospheric conditions by a fortuitous conjunction of six space and ground-based observatories. The study investigates the large-scale coupling of the solar wind–magnetosphere system that precipitated the onset of the magnetotail reconnection, focusing on the processes that thinned and stretched the cross-tail current layer in the absence of significant flux loading during a 2-hr-long preconditioning phase. It is demonstrated with data in the (a) upstream solar wind, (b) at the low-latitude magnetopause, (c) in the high-latitude polar cap, and (d) in the magnetotail that the typical picture of solar wind-driven current sheet thinning via flux loading does not appear relevant for this particular event. We find that the current sheet thinning was, instead, initiated by a transient solar wind pressure pulse and that the current sheet thinning continued even as the magnetotail and solar wind pressures decreased. We suggest that field line curvature-induced scattering (observed by magnetospheric multiscale) and precipitation (observed by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) of high-energy thermal protons may have evacuated plasma sheet thermal energy, which may require a thinning of the plasma sheet to preserve pressure equilibrium with the solar wind.
Keywords:

Magnetosphere Magnetotails Solar Wind Solar Wind
Source:

Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 128, e2023JA031758
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA031758
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Journal Article
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